Romancing the Redhead
by takeitbacktosquareone
Summary: James Potter knows that this is the year he will finally get to be with the girl he loves. And this time, he's not letting anyone come in his way.
1. Shrunken Clothes and Crushing Sorrows

"I win again, Wormtail."

Remus and Peter were playing chess again and Lupin had checkmated the round-faced boy in what seemed like under fifteen moves.

"I was just going easy on you." Pettigrew said, slumping further down his seat on the Hogwarts Express.

"You've been using that same excuse since first year, Wormie. Just suck it up and accept the fact that Remus beats you at chess." Said Sirius in a bland voice, not even looking up from the article he was reading in the Daily Prophet. It was as if he had to tell Peter off every twenty minutes.

"Mhmmphh…" mumbled Peter as he put away the chess pieces. "We'd better go get changed."

The three boys got up. Remus and Peter left the compartment, but Sirius turned back.

"James?"

James Potter had been staring out the window for what seemed like the past 3 hours. He hadn't even said a word.

Sirius sat down across from James and gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"What's up, Mate?"

James was now drooling into his lap. If Sirius hadn't been sure James was breathing, he would've thought he was petrified.

"Pad— she got prettier." Said James absent-mindedly, still staring out the window.

"Lily? Well, of course. She gets prettier every year, but I bet she still won't want to snog you." Said Sirius with a bit of a laugh.

James still just drooled and stared out the window.

All of a sudden, the compartment door reopened to reveal Remus dressed in his Hogwarts uniform. Behind him stood Wormtail, wearing his uniform, but not looking quite as good in it as Lupin.

The buttons on Wormtail's shirt were being stretched by his round belly and his fly was down. He was carrying his sweater in his left hand. It was obviously too small.

"Petey, did you overeat a bit over the summer?" said Sirius with a slight chuckle.

"No! I just had a growth spurt!" Shot Peter with a crossed look of anger and humiliation.

"Those happen vertically, not horizontally." said Lupin smartly with a satisfied smile.

Peter sunk in to the seat in front of him and one of the buttons shot off his shirt, ricocheted off various walls in the compartment and finally flew into James' mouth, before it fell out into a small puddle of drool in his lap. His eyes were still dead and transfixed on the train window.

Everyone was now staring at James. His mouth had become dry, so he had stopped drooling, but he still looked very peculiar.

Remus sat down beside him and smiled.

"What's wrong, Prongsy?"

James didn't seem to have heard him, but apparently he had because he gave a weak grunt and closed his eyes.

"He's a bit off. He saw You-Know-Who." Said Sirius.

Peter's face went white and Lupin gave a puzzled look.

"Voldemort?" He said in a whisper.

Sirius let out a laugh, "No, you idiots! Lily Evans!"

"She's pretty." Said James in a sort of trance.

"Well no wonder he's acting so weird then." said Lupin, "he's in love."

"Uhhhhh…" moaned James.

"Honestly James, is she sees you like this, she'll have you admitted to St. Mungo's." said Sirius cheekily.

The compartment door opened once again, this time to reveal a stunning redhead with gleaming emerald eyes.

"Who are you boys talking about now?" asked Lily Evans in a flustered voice.

James turned his head away from the window he had been fogging up to see the beautiful girl he had been day-dreaming about for the past 3 hours in real life again. His mouth reopened, drenching his pants once again with drool.

"I think poor James is sick." said Remus, putting his hand to the other boy's forehead.

"He's probably got mono from snogging every witch at the school." Said Lily and left with a huff.

"I told you she's pretty." said James with a euphoric smile.

Lupin was getting tired of James' attitude. He slapped him across the face with one his large, manly hands.

James regained full awareness finally. "What was that for?" he demanded, rubbing his hand on his stinging, pink cheek.

"Sorry, it was getting on my nerves." Lupin said, blushing.

Sirius laughed, "That was bloody brilliant, Moon!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm about to make a habit of it." said Lupin sheepishly.

"Now James, we must go get changed." said Sirius checking his watch. "We only have about ten minutes until we get to Hogsmeade station."

"Right, off we go then. Let's hope we haven't had as much of a growth spurt as Wormtail, here." said James, pointing at Wormtail, who had been snoring loudly for the past ten minutes.

They gathered their robes and left the compartment.

"That was mean!" exclaimed James once they were out of earshot from the compartment. "Shrinking his clothes? That's…brilliant!"

"Why thank you." replied Sirius taking a mock bow, "I do consider myself quite a genius."

The boys laughed and continued to walk down the hall until they reached the lavatories, where each took turns changing.

Throughout the walk back, the boys kept stealing glances into various compartments, checking for cute girls. They looked into one a couple doors down from their own, to find who else but…

"Snivellus!" burst out Sirius as he opened the compartment door to find Severus Snape alone, writing in his potions book.

"What?" said a furious Snape beneath his greasy black hair, hastily stashing his book away.

"How are you doing?" asked James, flashing his cheeky smile.

Severus pulled out his wand. "Sec—"

"No-no, Snivelly! You wouldn't want to be expelled before you even got to school, now would you?" asked Sirius, matching his best friend's grin.

Snape gave a huff and deposited his wand back into his robes.

"There, there Snivellus." said James with a mock comforting voice.

"Go away." grunted Snape.

"Hmph, someone drank some bad pumpkin juice this morning," said Sirius and the two boys walked back to their own compartment.

The train came to a jittery halt, signifying that another great school year was about to begin.


	2. Reminiscing and Pact Building

The four boys sat together for the start of term feast and sorting.

"How come all the girls sorted so far have either gone to Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw?" asked Sirius with a bit of a sigh.

"It's a dull bunch this year." replied James with a frown.

"Maybe they're all just scared of you." said Lily looking over to James.

"Maybe they're all scared of you, Evans." replied Sirius with an egotistical grin.

"Stay out of this, Black."

"Use your own advice, Lily." snapped Sirius, turning his back on her to reply to a question Lupin was asking Peter which he clearly didn't understand.

"Lilyyyyyyy—" whispered James into the redhead's left ear.

She spun around to reveal her flushed cheeks and spoke with a tone a mother would use after you did something very horrible.

"Go away, Potter. I'm trying to do something productive." she said and turned back to her food.

"What? I just wanted to say hi…and ask if you wanted to go to Hogsmeade with me on the first weekend?" he asked with an ounce of hope in his voice.

"No," she replied immediately.

"Why not? And please give me a legit answer." said James with his best, subtle puppy dog face.

Lily felt awful. "Because I'm already going with someone." she replied quickly and shooed him away without question.

James went back to his seat feeling lower than he had in his life. The girl he wanted more than anyone else was going out with another guy. He had to do something about it.

"Boys!" he practically yelled to his friends, "We are going to make a pact. Let's all pick a girl we like and this year we must go on a date with said girl. If we don't, well…serious consequences will be later established. So, who's in?"

Peter smiled, "I'll do it, James."

"Great! C'mon Sirius, Remus!"

"Oh fine." said Sirius and Lupin nodded his head in agreement.

"Excellent. I want Lily." said James defiantly.

"Yes, yes we know that." replied Remus.

"So…Sirius?" asked James with raised eyebrows.

"Winnifred Anderson." said Sirius with hidden giddy-ness.

"The Ravenclaw?" asked Lupin, now more interested.

Sirius blushed and smiled.

"Great! Moony?" asked James, turning to Lupin.

"Do I really have to?" asked Lupin, looking down and poking at his chicken.

"Of course you have to! We have to make sure we don't pick the same girl!" exclamed Peter, talking for the first time in a while. James already missed his silence.

"Annaleeya Smithsfield." said Lupin quietly.

"A Huffy?" shrieked Sirius excitedly.

"Shhh!" said Lupin hiding his face as a few second year Hufflepuff girls looked over at the Gryffindor table.

"And now you, Pettigrew." said James, hungry for the words Wormtail was about to speak.

"Barbacia Gluconan." said Peter in a high voice.

Sirius looked mortified. "She picks her nose during class!"

"Well then, they have something in common." said Lupin matter-of-factly.

Peter looked over to a young Ravenclaw girl who was nervously twitching as she ate her fish.

"Isn't she amazing?" asked Wormtail in the same way James was acting on the train.

"You must be joking," laughed James, "Really, which girl?"

"I'm being serious!" Peter frowned. "I think she's gorgeous!"

"I personally think she's a little out of your league, Worm." laughed Sirius, "maybe we should have you go out with Ol' Snivells over there." Sirius pointed over to the Slytherin table where Snape was sitting, not talking to anyone, and not eating. He was just sitting there quietly in front of an empty plate. He looked helpless and pitiful.

All of a sudden, he stood up abruptly and left the Great Hall.

"Maybe he's gone to go cry because he has no friends." said Sirius, who, like James, had been staring at Snape.

James casually looked over to Lily. She had also been staring at Snape. Her glowing face had turned dull and her angelic smile was now a solemn frown.

"Oh stop, Lily, honestly that boy is trouble. He'll do no good for you." James overheard her friend telling her before he turned back to his own friends.

The feast went on and the Great Hall bellowed with booming voices telling tales of their long summers apart from friends. The occasional talk of quidditch arose and fell around James, but all in all, he couldn't really focus on the conversations. He was too busy thinking about one little thing.

_Who is she going out with?_ thought James as the scene replayed over and over in his head, his shaky, nervous voice taunting him with every word. _Why can't I just be normal around her?! What makes her so different from all the others?_

James had had many girlfriends over his past three years at Hogwarts. Just about every girl in the school (even some Slytherins, though they denied it) were absolutely in love with James Potter. One thing that struck Lily as so interesting to him, was that she didn't rather care for him. In fact, she found him extremely conceited. This made James want her more.

"_You always want what you can't have."_ he remembered Sirius telling him second year when he had unsuccessfully asked out Lily for the thirteenth time.

Last year had been the worst, though. Lily had had her first boyfriend last year. James and Sirius' Hogsmeade trips were always rudely interrupted by seeing them together and James would always become very tense. Lily would never admit it, but it was really James' constant bugging of Brandon Breacher, the boy in question, that led to their break-up three days before school ended.

James spent his free summer time writing unanswered letters to Lily when he wasn't playing quidditch. Most of them were along the lines of:

"Maybe you haven't gotten the last six letters, but I really miss you! Got to go play more quidditch! Bye!"

He had been absolutely fine up until when he saw her again before boarding the train. It was as if he had forgotten why he wrote to her all summer, and he just did it for the sake of writing.

But now he remembered. And it made him feel all giddy inside.

Throughout all his reminiscing, he hadn't even noticed that the feast had ended and everyone was leaving.

"James?" He knew only one person with a voice as beautiful as the one who had just whispered his name. The girl put her hand on the back of his left quidditch-toned shoulderblade.

"Hello Lily." he said, trying his best to keep his cool.

"I just wanted to tell you…" she started, "that I'm sorry."

"About what?" James was dazed. Why was Lily Evans apologizing to him?

"About Hogsmeade." she replied, "I just, don't want to disappoint who I'm going with. It wouldn't be fair. You understand, right?"

"Of course, yeah." said James as he got up. "But do you mind if I walk you to the common room?" he asked, offering his hand to her.

"Uh, no thank you." she said and hurried away.

James sighed. He was alone in Great Hall, accompanied only by a bewitched ceiling revealing thunderstorms and heavy rain.

He looked around again, unable to find a single person to talk to when he had so much he needed vent out.

And at that very moment, James understood the loneliness that was felt every day by Severus Snape.


	3. Double Potions and Pumpkin Juice

Term began right away as always and James awoke Tuesday morning to Peter, Remus and Sirius chatting as they got ready for breakfast.

"But Barbacia! Ew!" exclaimed Sirius at the sight of Wormtail's wide smile.

James sat bolt-upright, "you actually care about that? I was just making an excuse to talk about Lily non-stop!"

"I think it's a good idea…" said Wormtail in a sly, happy voice.

"Wormie, get dressed; I'm hungry." groaned Lupin, "you too, James, I want some pumpkin juice."

"Well, there will be pumpkin juice is twenty minutes, relax Moony." replied James, putting his head back down to his pillow and falling back asleep.

Remus ripped James' scarlet sheets off of him and threw them on the floor.

"Honestly, wake up!" he said and turned away.

James didn't appreciate being torn away from his warm four-poster bed, where he had sweet dreams of Lily Evans, but he obliged Lupin only because he knew she would be at the Gryffindor table and hopefully he could find out who she was going to Hogsmeade with. (And then start plotting evil things against him.)

The boys walked down the countless corridors and staircases and finally made it to the Great Hall, where indeed, Lily Evans was eating a piece of toast while reading her timetable.

"Good morning!" said James as he took the empty spot on the bench beside Lily and smiled widely.

"Looks like you've made a full recovery." said Lily, still reading her timetable.

"What do we have first?" asked James, peering over her shoulder to the sheet of paper.

"Double Potions with Hufflepuff." replied Lily.

"I bet you're happy about that. Slughorn loves you. I don't think he likes me all that much." James said glumly, trying to keep their conversation.

"Well, I don't blame him. And why don't you go sit with your friends? They're probably much more interesting than I am. And I'm sure they're used to your annoying, arrogant personality." she said, scooting away from him.

He scooted closer to her. "I wanted to ask you who you're going to Hogsmeade with." said James in a more serious voice.

Lily looked angry. "What? So you can make his life a living hell like you did to Brandon? And then you had the nerve to send me all those stupid, pointless letters in the summer! Brandon never sent me one letter. And now even though we're back at school, he's refusing to talk to me."

"Well then, obviously he's a gigantic jerk and he's not worth you." said James in a bit of a yell.

"No! Obviously he doesn't want to be bothered by you. And I don't either. God James, just leave me alone!" she screamed at him. She was so angry that she got up and ran out of the Great Hall.

James walked back to where his friends were sitting a little way down the long table.

"Good going, Mr. Suave." said Sirius as James dropped his face onto his empty plate.

"Why is she so stubborn, Remus?" mumbled James, but received no reply from Lupin, who was staring past Peter's head to the Hufflepuff table.

"He won't listen. He's staring at Annaleeya." said Sirius dully. James looked up to find Remus' eyes transfixed on a fellow fourth year with dirty blonde hair, sitting at the next table.

"He can stare at her all morning. We have double Potions with Hufflepuff." said James wearily. "I'm going back to bed." But all he did was fall back asleep on his plate.

Lily went straight to Moaning Myrtle's bathroom to cry.

She slumped down by the window and saw that it was still pouring rain. A few tears slipped down her cheeks and she rummaged through her pockets for a tissue.

"Unbelievable. I've been here less than 24 hours and James has already made me cry." she said to herself.

All of a sudden, Myrtle burst through her toilet, making Lily jump.

"Why are you here? Go away! Leave me alone!" snarled Myrtle. She had never been particularly nice to Lily.

"I'm sorry. I just needed a place to cry where no one would find me," she said, trying to gather herself together.

"Well I found you!" shrieked Myrtle, "but obviously I don't count!"

"I didn't mean it like that. A boy won't leave me alone." she said quietly.

This got Myrtle excited, "Ohhh, which boy?" she squealed.

Lily looked reluctant, "…James Potter." she said, looking to the floor.

"Oh! He's cute! Why would you run away from a cute boy like him?" asked Myrtle.

"Well, he won't leave me alone. And then, he asked to go to Hogsmeade with me and I said I was going with someone else which I'm really not because I just wanted him to go away," Lily confessed.

"Well then, just go out with someone else. Just find a random boy. It shouldn't be hard. I mean, if James Potter wants you, you're really special." said Myrtle with a wide smile.

Lily would have stayed with Myrtle longer, but she wanted to be early for Potions. She had missed Professor Slughorn very much.

Lily walked down the countless flights of stairs until she reached the dungeons. She knocked at the door and waited.

A few moments later, a man with a very big smile answered the door. "Ah Lily Evans, my-my you've grown."

"Hello, Professor. Did you have a good summer?" she asked.

"Well, you know I could never have a good time away from my students." replied the man with a smile.

The two talked for a couple more minutes before the other Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs arrived.

Double Potions flew by for Lily, who had successfully brewed a love potion on her first try, unlike James, who managed to make what looked like simmering mud.

"I don't think I've ever seen something that shade of brown before, Mr. Potter. It looks especially…putrid." James remembered Slughorn saying while he inspected their creations.

After a rather dull Care of Magical Creatures, the four boys went for lunch in the Great Hall.

"I don't understand," grumbled James, "it's not like I'm not trying! He just hates me!"

"I don't think he hates you…maybe you should do something responsible. Ask him for extra help, or something." suggested Lupin.

'That's it!" shrieked James.

The three boys stared at him with puzzled looks.

"What's _it_, James?" asked Sirius.

"If I asked for a tutor…who do you think he'll give me?" James asked, beaming, "I'm going to go ask him now."

James ran out of the Great Hall down to the dungeons when all of a sudden…

**Crash!**

He hit the floor.

"Oh James, I'm so sorry!" exclaimed Lily, sitting up.

She looked at him, "Oh gosh! You have a bloody nose! Here, I'll help you to the Hospital Wing."

The two walked through what felt like the entire castle before reaching the Hospital Wing.

"Madame Pomfrey, we kind of…bopped heads and…oh James, I feel awful." Lily said.

"Now, now relax Evans, he'll be fine." Madame Pomfrey said to her.

She lay James down so he could have a nice rest, just when the other three Marauders burst in.

Sirius went to James and whispered in his ear, "So, I guess you didn't get to ask Slughorn?"

"Yeah, but this was okay." replied James and he dozed off.


	4. Lockets and Long Walks on the Lake

James returned to the Gryffindor common room that evening from the hospital wing, where he was greeted with the odd, "hey," from his friends, who were sitting on the floor doing homework.

"How much did I miss?!" he asked looking at the long rolls of parchment already filled with ink from each boy; the sad thing was they didn't look even close to complete.

"Transfiguration," Lupin said, not even looking up from his parchment.

James sat down in a cozy, scarlet armchair and watched them write for a while. He was getting bored very quickly.

"I'm going to go for a walk." James said to the boys after watching them write for a full eight minutes.

James got up out of his armchair and left the common room.

First, he figured he'd check to see if Slughorn was in his office, but no such luck. James would have to ask after class tomorrow.

Next, he went up to the Astronomy Tower. He stood, looking up at the stars, not remembering the names of a single one.

"Why did I come here? It's a waste of time for someone like me." He said, slumping onto a marble bench at the top of the tower.

He put his hands to his sides, but felt something very peculiar in his left one.

He lifted his hand to reveal a beautiful heart-shaped locked that looked very antique and valuable.

James thought to himself.

_I'd better take it, just so that it doesn't get into worse hands._

And with that, he pocketed the locket and then decided he'd walk by the lake.

Just as he had reached his favourite tree, he put his hand back in his pocket to take another look at beautiful locket he'd managed to stumble across.

But, he couldn't find it.

He tried the other pocket. Nope, the others? Nothing but a tissue and some old scraps of parchment.

_Where is it?_ He asked himself. _It was here a little while ago!_

James looked up, expecting to see some sign in the stars to the whereabouts of the mysterious locket, but instead, only found darkness.

James cursed under his breath. He started to run back to the common room, hoping for his life that he wouldn't get caught. The locket would just have to wait.

Finally, James made it back to the Gryffindor common room. He climbed up the spiral staircase to his dormitory and quietly climbed into his cozy four-poster bed.

He checked his watch.

"11.10." He said to himself.

He looked around, everyone was asleep. He pulled the covers over his head and was asleep within seconds.

James woke up the next morning to Sirius poking his cheek with his wand, Lupin plugging and unplugging his nose and Peter, jumping up and down for no apparent reason. James sighed at Pettigrew's failed attempt to try and fit in with the others.

"Get dressed, Prongs. Remus wants his pumpkin juice again." Said Sirius as James' eyes fluttered open.

"Where were you last night, James?" asked Lupin.

"I told you, I was going for a walk."

"Did you meet up with Lily or something? You were going for a while."

"No, I just needed some fresh air and time to think," replied James, thinking back to the locket and if he would ever find it again.

He pulled off his sheets only to remember he hadn't changed when he had gotten back, so he stayed in his robes and the four boys went down to breakfast together.

They arrived in the Great Hall to find bright sun beams shining through the ceiling and the usual bustle of chatter coming from the students.

Lupin poured himself a glass of pumpkin juice and sat down where he could have a great view of Annaleeya Smithsfield. Her dark blonde, shoulder-length hair looked particularly shiny this morning as it reflected the ceiling's rays of sunlight.

She turned around and smiled at Lupin, who weakly smiled back, turning a light shade of pink in the process.

"She smiled at me." Lupin said hazily to Wormtail, but he received no response.

Lupin looked over to him to find Peter drooling at the sign of Barbacia. It was odd, because whenever Lupin looked at her, he'd be more likely to vomit, rather than drool.

A little ways down the table, Sirius was watching James, who, instead of ogling Lily as per usual, he was fidgeting around his pockets.

He gasped, "Aha!" said James as he triumphantly pulled out a beautiful, gold locket from his left pocket.

"I knew I had it!" he said with a smug smile.

Sirius gazed at it, "Whose is it?" he asked.

"I dunno." replied James, "I'm going to go try to find out."

"Hey, did you ever have a chance to ask Slughorn for a tutor?"

James sighed, "I can never find him anywhere! I'm going to talk to him after class, though."

The boys left the Great Hall about ten minutes later so they could wash up for Transfiguration, which, to the delight of Remus, would also involve Hufflepuff.

Lupin stared at Annaleeya's hair all through class. He liked sitting behind her because he could stare at her and no one would notice...except James, Sirius and Peter.

Before he knew it, class was over, so he decided he'd talk to her.

"So, um, Annaleeya…How are you?" he stuttered to her.

"Not that good. I actually feel really sick. I must have eaten some bad…" but she didn't even get to finish her sentence before vomiting all over Remus' robes.

"Oh, Ms. Smithsfield Are you alright, dear?" asked Minerva, scurrying over to her.

"Remus, I'm so sorry!" Annaleeya looked as though she was about to cry.

"Annaleeya, I'll take you to the hospital wing and Potter, you can explain to your next teacher that your friend will be late for class because he needs to get himself cleaned up." she said to James.

Remus took off to his Gryffindor Room almost immediately because the smell of vomit was starting to make him gag.

He reached his dormitory and threw all his clothes into his hamper, in search of new ones in the drawer.

"This is going to screw up my entire wardrobe," he said, grabbing his Friday boxers even though it was still on Thursday.

He quietly changed and instead of going down to the dungeons for Potions, he headed to the hospital wing, where Annaleeya was crying on a bed.

He walked over to her and she looked up.

"I know you never want me to go near you ever again, I understand."

"No, no, no!" said Lupin, "I wanted to make sure you're okay."

Annaleeya smiled at him, "you're sweet."

"I try my best." replied Remus.

Meanwhile, James had told Slughorn that Lupin would be late and that he felt he needed tutoring.

"It will really help me, I believe." James pleaded.

Slughorn agreed to talk to him about it after class.

So now, James was sitting in Potions Class, his least favourite subject, with Slytherin, his least favourite house.

But, after what felt like an eternity, class was over, so he went back up to Slughorn's desk to discuss his situation.

"Well James, reviewing your marks, I'd say getting you a tutor would be a great idea. So, I'm going to put you with one of the best student's in my class."

James smiled brightly.

"Severus, come here, you will be Mr. Potter's new tutor. I'm sure you two will work quite well together." Slughorn said and left the classroom to the two boys, both glaring at each other.


	5. Remedial Potions and Mixed Emotions

Chapitre Cinq- Remedial Potions and Mixed Emotions

That night, James met Snape in the library to start studying for the quiz they were having on Monday.

"So, it's Thursday…the quiz is Monday…We're studying for it now, because…?" asked James, annoyed more now than he'd been in a long time.

"Because if we don't start now, you'll never get it by Monday." replied Snape.

He knew it would be agony tutoring Potter every night for two whole weeks, but agony seemed like heaven compared to what he was feeling like right now.

"I told you, stir clockwise. You keep switching! You're never going to get this right!" screamed Snape. The librarian gave him a dirty look and he shut up.

_I'm surprised someone so incredibly stupid can still be able to stay at this school, _Snape thought to himself.

"Sorry, my mind is on other things," retorted James.

"Potions is a precise practice; one not successfully completed with a pea-sized brain that can't focus," snapped Snape, "Besides, Slughorn was on to your little game with Evans. I just hate having to suffer for it."

"What? It's not like you have friends you'd be hanging out with right now." James snapped back.

Snape was livid. For the past hour and forty five minutes, all the two had done was argue non-stop. The rage was boiling over for the both of them.

"At least I don't make friends with losers." Snape said quietly. He had never been the best at defending himself because he barely needed to, on account of the fact that people seldom talked to him.

James snorted, "Is that the best you've got? At least I don't make friends with people who sit around and write notes in their textbooks on all their free time."

"Wanker," mumbled Snape. He was so agitated he got up and stormed out of the library, leaving James behind with all the people who had been eavesdropping on his own humiliation.

His books were weighing down his bag, causing him to lose his balance and fall down an entire flight of stairs.

Bursts of laughter erupted all around him. He was so angry he wanted to scream with hatred.

All of a sudden, footsteps approached him. A gentle hand was gracefully hanging in front of his eyes, waiting for him to take it.

"Are you okay, Severus?" asked Lily as she told the other students to go away.

"I'm fine." Snapped Snape through rigid teeth,

"Sorry, but you don't look fine. Want me to help you carry your things?" she offered.

"I told you, I'm fine. I don't need worthless pity from you."

Snape grabbed his books, ran all the way up to the Slytherin common room, and up to his dormitory, finally stopping when he got to his bed.

Laying down, he burst out crying on his four-poster.

"I'm a worthless git. Now wonder I have no friends." he told himself with a shaky voice.

He decided he'd better stop crying, wash his face and get away from everyone to avoid more ridicule.

Slowly getting out of the bed, he ran to the bathrooms and began to wash his forehead and eyes, trying to eliminate any signs of past tears he's shed.

As he walked to the library where he'd figured he would read a nice book for a while, he ran into Lily again.

"Excuse me, I should watch where I'm going," she said, looking at the floor.

Contrary to the beliefs of his peers, Snape had feelings; and right now, he felt awful.

"I'm sorry, that was my fault. And I'm sorry I was mean to you earlier. I guess I'm just not used to people being nice to me."

Snape realized how much of a loner he sounded like and decided just to walk away after that.

"Wait, Severus!" Lily yelled back to him.

He turned around and saw her walking over to him.

"Do you want to go to Hogsmeade with me this weekend?"

Snape thought she sounded pretty sincere, so he agreed and left.

James figured Snape wouldn't be back anytime soon, so he decided to just go back to the common room.

"How was day one of hell with the Snivell's?" asked Sirius, chuckling.

"It ended early, but it was still unbearable." replied James.

Sinking into a comfy, scarlet armchair, he thought long and hard about what Snape was saying. He really did want to pass Potions, but he knew he probably wouldn't be able to again.

James felt that all hope was lost until he suddenly lost track of everything going on. Lily was staring at him.

"Yes?" He smiled at her.

"What did you do to him?" Her face was filled with anger.

"Do what to whom?" asked James, dumbfounded.

"To Severus, did you hex him again? Did you yell at him? Did you make him angry? What did you do?" She bellowed at James.

"I just defended my pride. He was the one who started it all, the bloody git." James said back.

Lily frowned harder, "He tries to help you with Potions and you yell at him? You made the poor boy cry!" she yelled.

"I made him cry?!" James smiled broadly and received a high-five from Sirius.

Lily kept frowning harder and harder, "Why would I want a bastard like you taking me to Hogsmeade? I'm taking Severus. He knows how to not treat others like worthless trash! Maybe you could learn something from him." And with that, Lily stomped out of the common room and through the portrait hole.

She had no idea where to go. She walked up and down countless staircases, until finally she found it.

"Does this lead to the Slytherin common room?" she asked the painting. She'd never asked a painting a question like that before.

The man in the painting stared at her, "yes, why?" he asked.

"Can I go in? I'm looking for someone." She was nervous, the man in the painting could tell.

"Well, sure." The man smiled, but didn't swing open, "what is the password?" He was glaring at her now.

"Um uh, well, I don't know. I'm not in this house. I'm in Gryffindor, see?" She pointed to the house crest sewn onto her robes.

"And then why would I let you in…seeing as you don't know the password." Lily could see how angry the man was. She was scared.

"I'm looking for someone. He must be inside there." she replied.

"I see. Well then, what shall we do?" He asked her.

"Um, do I…knock on your face?" She asked quietly.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" he screamed.

A Slytherin prefect burst through the portrait hole.

"Why is there such a ruckus?! People are trying to do their work inside!" She yelled.

The portrait told the prefect, "You see Agnes, this girl was trying to get in without the password. She isn't even in this house!" exclaimed the man in the painting.

"Castlavara is my name, Higgins. It's not Agnes." The prefect turned to Lily, "And you, why are you here?" the prefect shouted, "Are you the cause of all the commotion?!"

"I'm sorry, Miss, I'll just leave." Lily said quietly.

The prefect pulled her aside, "You're going to Professor Slughorn. He'll have to deal with you."

Lily and the prefect walked down to the dungeons, where they found Slughorn marking essays.

"Well, hello Castlavara. I'm marking your sister's essay as we speak!" Slughorn smiled at her.

"And how is Barbacia doing?" asked the prefect to Slughorn, returning his smile.

"Well, she is doing well, but never as good as you, Cass." Slughorn then noticed Lily. "What do you need, Lily, my favourite student?" He was beaming at her.

"Actually, Professor," interrupted the prefect, "She's the reason we're here. She was making quite a scene outside the Slytherin common room. I figured she must be punished. Everyone was trying to do their homework and she was outside yelling at poor Higgins!"

Slughorn looked confused, "Why were you outside the Slytherin common room, Lily?"

"I was looking for Severus, actually." she confessed.

"A question about Potions?" asked Slughorn, "Because you can ask me now, I'm right here." He smiled at her. He had always loved her as a student.

"Well, not really. I just really wanted to talk to him." she said quietly.

Slughorn was still beaming. "Cass, take Ms. Evans up to the common room so she can talk to Severus. If Higgins puts up a fight, he can deal with me."

Castlavara took Lily back to the common room, whispered the password so she couldn't hear it (although it did sound kind of like 'boiled carrots') and led her up to Snape's dormitory.

Lily knocked. There was no answer.

"There you go, he's not here. So, go away." snapped the prefect.

Not a moment later did Snape open the door. He looked quite bewildered to see Lily. The only thing he was wearing was a tank top and his tighty-whities.

"Bad time?" she asked, almost bursting out with laughter. He looked so ridiculous, yet so Snape-ish at the same time.

"Yeah…" replied Snape. He closed the door after and went back to his bed.

The Hogwarts four-poster with the green and silver sheets had always felt quite comfortable each time he sank himself inside of them, but today they felt stiff and hard, as if the springs in the mattress had been replaced by a slab of concrete and his sheets felt as though they'd just been washed in cornstarch.

"I need to get out of here. I need to find her." He said out loud.

He jumped out of his bed and threw his robes back on before running down the spiral staircase, through the portrait hole and out to find Lily.

Walking slowly, feeling defeated, Lily trudged back to the Gryffindor common room.

It was quiet, but the silence was broken by someone who was running behind her.

The person stopped running. He (or she, Lily didn't quite know) was now, basically stalking her. She turned around to tell him (or her) to leave her alone when she saw…

"Severus!" She leaped into his arms and gave him a big hug.

He pulled away from her.

"What did you want before?"

She smiled and put her arms around his neck. His hair fell against her hands, making them very greasy.

Lily noticed there were people around, lots of them. They were watching her and Snape. She saw James looking, now she had him.

She pressed her lips against Snape's and pushed her tongue into his mouth. He must've thought she was the worst kisser alive, but she felt pretty much the same way about him.

Everyone around them burst out in excitement (and moderate grossness). Lily could her James shouting.

She smiled against the kiss. Victory is sweet.


End file.
